The standard packet switched telephone network (PSTN), sometimes referred to as the plain old telephone system (POTS), has been used for years by consumers to access services, such as ordering pizza. Telemarketers have also used the PSTN as a marketing medium. Over time, the PSTN has been highly optimized for the delivery of voice services only, without regard to the integration of voice and data. Because of limitations in the traditional PSTN architecture, there are fundamental problems with attempting to offer anything other than standard dial tone. Branding and differentiated services become virtually impossible.
Consumers who wanted to talk to someone or who desired services either needed to dial the phone number directly or needed to dial directory assistance. As voice recognition technology developed, it was applied to use for “voice dialing,” but still employed use of the dial tone.
In recent years, new technologies have transformed available service and marketing channels. Automatic or interactive voice response (AVR or IVR) systems now allow more cost-effective delivery of messages. Additionally, the use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has increased as network bandwidth has increased.
At the same time, a number of marketing and advertising tools have come into play as a result of Internet technology. This marketing processing involves processing consumer requests for information and serving ads to consumers for various services. These marketing and advertising analysis activities have not penetrated significantly into the interactive VRU marketplace.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,480 to May, an electronic communication manager in the form of an advanced virtual assistant uses various technologies, including VoIP, automatic speech recognition, and text-to-speech, to provide an IVR system via telephone and data networks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,213 to Bernard, et al. discloses an automated product purchasing system allows purchasers to order products via a remote communications medium without having to speak to a sales representative or other human operator. According to the invention, purchasers access the automated product purchasing system and browse among the selections offered. Menu style prompts guide the customer through the various products offered by the automated product purchasing system. Product descriptions are provided to assist the customer in making his or her selections. Where appropriate, product samples are provided to the customer via the communications medium so the customer can evaluate the product prior to purchasing. Examples of product samples include movie previews, sample cuts from music tracks, software demos, and the like. Ordering and purchasing are automated so that human operators are not required to intervene in the process. The use of a membership profile with important customer information facilitates the automation of the process and minimizes the amount of times a repeat customer needs to provide this information.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,124 to Csaszar, et al. discloses a system wherein a consumer initiates activity by calling an IVR system. Software identifies the consumer a consumer inputted identification and plays an advertising message that, preferably, has been predetermined to have likely appeal to the consumer. The IVR system is then used to disseminate information sought by the customer (such as student grades) after first disseminating the advertising message. The advertising message can include an offer to purchase a product or service. The offer can be taken during the advertising period and recorded so as to be sent to a sponsor.
As noted above this type of targeted advertising has also increased due to advancements in information processing and Internet data mining.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,330 to Gardenswartz, et al. discloses delivering a targeted advertisement to a computer in response to receiving an identifier, such as a cookie, from the computer. The targeted advertisement is based on the observed offline purchase history of a consumer associated with the identifier, wherein the targeted advertisements sent to consumers may be changed and/or refined based on changes in consumers' purchase history behaviors.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,068 to Beaumont, et al. discloses a marketing system for use in a public switched telephone system having stored program controlled switches connected to customer premise equipment having an analog display service interface, comprises a storage device for storing predetermined information respecting each of customer premise equipment, a device for assembling and managing messages including creating a message to be delivered to one or more of the customer premise equipment, linking each message with one or more of the customer premise equipment, scheduling the delivery of the messages at a predetermined time, and measuring the response of each customer premise equipment to messages delivered thereto.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,097,792 and 5,883,940 to Thornton disclose an interactive method and apparatus for the generation of leads that stores a plurality of prerecorded messages. The system accepts user's phone calls and captures the user's phone number, combines it with additional information and tracks users transactions with the system and subsequently transfers the combined information in the form of a sales lead to a prospective seller immediately upon termination of the phone call or beginning prior thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,154 to Beck, et a. discloses a client-specific self-help wizard for active clients in a multimedia call center (MMCC) operating through an operating system. The wizard is updated periodically with information related to client transaction history with the MMCC. A connected client is presented by the wizard with a selective media function through which the client may a select a media type for interaction and help, and the MMCC will then re-contact the client through the selected media. The client, for example, may select IP or COST telephony, and the MMCC will place a call to the client to a number or IP address listed for the client, and interactivity will then be through an interactive voice response unit. Help information specific to a client is updated in the client's wizard periodically according to ongoing transaction history with the MMCC. The wizard may also monitor client activity with the wizard and make reports available to various persons.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,001 to Uppalura discloses universal access to voice-based documents containing information formatted using MIME and HTML standards using customized extensions for voice information access and navigation. These voice documents are linked using HTML hyper-links that are accessible to subscribers using voice commands, touch-tone inputs and other selection means. These voice documents and components in them are addressable using HTML anchors embedding HTML universal resource locators (URLs) rendering them universally accessible over the Internet. This collection of connected documents forms a voice web. The voice web includes subscriber-specific documents including speech training files for speaker dependent speech recognition, voice print files for authenticating the identity of a user and personal preference and attribute files for customizing other aspects of the system in accordance with a specific subscriber.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,705 to Perrone discloses a method for controlling a server using voice. In one embodiment, a client such as a Web browser is coupled over a data communication channel to a server. A telephone at the client side is connected to an interactive voice response (IVR) system that has a speech recognizer at the server side, over a separate, parallel voice communication channel. The IVR system has a control connection to the server. A table of associations between resource identifiers and network addresses is stored in association with the IVR system. A user at the client side establishes a data connection between the client and the server, and a voice connection between the telephone and the IVR system. Control software on the IVR system synchronizes an IVR session to a server session. The control software receives a spoken utterance over the voice communication channel, interprets the utterance to recognize a resource identifier in the utterance, and associates the resource identifier with a network address of a server resource. The IVR system commands the server to deliver the server resource identified by that network address to the client. Thus, the server delivers server resources in response to voice commands at the client side. In an alternate embodiment, the voice communication channel is integrated with the data communication channel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,848 to Walsh, et al. discloses an interactive bi-directional telecommunication method using a handheld low power user device to access a host computer server along a telecommunication path, and to command the host computer server to transmit audio and/or visual reports to the user device. The system includes host computer ordering of consumer products and services using the telecommunications method and handheld low power user device.
What would be useful is a method and apparatus for taking advantage of the “always-on” nature of a broadband VoIP network connection to provide enhanced services triggered by the off-hook event, bypassing a dial tone and the architectural limitations of the PSTN. Such a service would also take advantage of providing advertising keyed to the request and interests of the user as determined by the VoIP and associated VRU capabilities.